Temple of Castor and Pollux
About
The Dioscuri were said to have appeared on the Roman side at the battle of Lake Regillus, then to have watered their horses at the spring here while bringing news of the victory to the city ahead of any messenger. The temple was vowed on that promise and dedicated in 484 BCE. Tiberius rebuilt it after a fire and rededicated it in 6 CE in his own name and his dead brother's. Its high podium doubles as a speaker's platform, the office of weights and measures works out of the vaults beneath, and bankers keep strongrooms there. In 117 CE it is one of the busiest buildings in the Forum, and not only for worship.
What happened here
The building itself is a house for the god, and most people never go inside. Everything public happens on the steps and at the altar in front: an animal led up, examined, killed cleanly, its organs read, the meat divided and eaten. The priest covers his head and a flute player keeps up a noise so no ill-omened word is heard. Worshippers leave what they can afford — a terracotta figure, a coin, a model of the body part they want healed — and the accumulated clutter is periodically cleared and buried on site. On festival days the doors are opened and the cult statue is dressed, garlanded, and sometimes carried out through the streets. The temple also holds money, which is why towns keep their treasury in one.
In ancient writing
- Livy, Ab urbe condita 2.20.12, 2.42.5
The temple is vowed on the field at Lake Regillus when the Dioscuri are seen fighting for Rome, and dedicated by the vower's son fifteen years later.
Sources
Nearby
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